If You Win This
by rachel-greatest
Summary: "Let's play some sodding Quidditch already—I mean, honestly if we sit here waiting for Rey and Ben to f—" BB's loud gasp covered the terribly obscene word, "—we'll all die of old age!" In which Rey and Kylo/Ben play some Quidditch, catch a snitch, and...some other things.


Ben closed his eyes and gripped his broom tightly as he prepared to do his part in the battle against the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. Gryffindor was sort of the laughingstock of the school after their dismal season so far anyway, but if he lost to their seeker, Rey, (arguably the scariest and most attractive girl in the entire school forget the Hufflepuff stereotypes–that smile _oh gosh,_ Ben had it bad and everyone knew it), he'd literally never live it down with his team. Especially Captain Phasma. Ben's stomach turned at the thought of her face if they lost another match—especially against Hufflepuff. They'd be officially out of the running for the Cup.

Suddenly the timid voice of the announcer called the teams out onto the pitch, and Ben locked eyes with Rey as they marched onto the field, flushing dark red when she winked at him conspiratorially and mouthed, deliberately slow enough for Ben to understand, " _If you win this, I'll kiss you_."

 _Well,_ _crap_ , he thought. Now he'd never be able to concentrate well enough to get the snitch before she managed to. That was probably her plan.

One last huddle before they started. Phasma opened and closed her mouth a few times as she thought of what to say, finally settling on a simple start, "As your captain, I will be proud of you all no matter what—as long as you do your best." She threw a pointed look to Ben before continuing, "And don't let yourselves get distracted by those Hufflepuffs—" she practically hissed the last word, "—Hux, Plutt, I heard it on good authority this morning that Finn and Poe have been down here three hours every night after hours practicing, so you've got to be quick with those bludgers."

"Professor Solo!" Hux exclaimed. Plutt nodded in irritated agreement. Poe and Finn must have gotten permission from him to practice later.

"Ben? Ben!" Phasma shouted, snapping her fingers under his nose. His gaze had drifted….to the huddle of Quidditch players in yellow on the opposite side of the field. "For Merlin's Sake, you idiot! Whatever she's been doing, she's just trying to distract you so that she can be the one to get the snitch first, I promise."

Ben sighed. "Yeah, I know."

"You can't let your silly crush get in the way of this game." Phasma warned.

"Yeah, I know."

"Alright. Are we clear on the strategy here?" she asked once more as the ref, whom everyone jokingly referred to as 'General' Organa, blew the whistle to assemble the teams.

The rag-tag team of red-robed students all nodded in solemn unison. No one here misunderstood the importance of this game to the team.

"I don't want any dirty playing, okay?" Organa said, giving a stern look to each member of both teams, her gaze only softening for a moment when it landed on Ben. He looked away quickly with a scowl.

She rolled her eyes. "Any questions? Are we ready to begin?" she said, raising her eyebrows for a moment as she turned to the announcer in the box behind them. After a short silence, she gave a quick nod to the student with the microphone (did anyone know her actual name? Everyone always just called her BB).

"Alright—it looks as though both teams are ready to begin the game. This one's gonna be a nail biter for sure!" BB began, and Ben had to hold back a rather undignified giggle. Her voice was just so….soft. How she landed the announcing gig, he'd never know.

Suddenly, there were amplified sounds of a struggle, some terribly loud feedback from the microphone, and another, shriller voice sounded from the microphone. Everyone in the pitch held their breath as Artoo—BB's older sister—took over the job.

"Let's play some sodding Quidditch already—I mean, honestly if we sit here waiting for Rey and Ben to f—" BB's loud gasp covered the terribly obscene word, "—we'll all die of old age!"

Before the blush even cooled on Ben's face— _don'tlookatReydon'tlookatRey_ —Professor Skywalker, General Organa's twin brother who taught Ancient Runes, reached down and plucked the microphone from both of them and spoke into it calmly:

"Leia, we're ready when you are." Disappointed titters in the background sounded; Artoo's exasperated sigh was audible through the microphone.

General Organa put her wand to her throat, whispering " _Sonorus_ " before turning to the two teams and shouting "Begin!" She threw the quaffle up in the air and released the bludgers, ducking out of the way of the two beastly balls. Last was the snitch, and from high above her on his broom, Ben watched closely for that one.

Well, closely? He had one eye on Rey, truth be told. He assured himself it was just for strategy. What if she saw it before he did? But really he was mentally bemoaning the distance between them and the shapelessness of her robes (even though he knew Phasma would personally castrate him for doing something so inane as ogling the Hufflepuff Seeker).

He flew circles around the field, lazily chasing glints and glimmers around the goal posts and in between the players. Several times he was almost caught in the path of a beater, but each time he managed to swerve and escape, thanks to Hux and Plutt. At least a half hour passed in this way, and Gryffindor even seemed to be gaining the upper hand. Ben relaxed a bit at that and continued flying circles, chasing for the snitch but mostly watching Rey.

Her strategy was wildly different than any other Seeker Ben had ever seen. Where most Seekers would do exactly what Ben was doing—sort of a lazy circle, mostly moving slowly to be sure to see the snitch if it moved—Rey instead devoted all of her energy and speed to ending the game as fast as she could. She darted around the field as quickly as possible, in between players, around the edges of the field, even flying through the goal posts, determined to catch every trace of the snitch.

Every time she went up in the air, Rey flew like her life depended on it. She jerked between players with mere inches to spare, sometimes performed absurdly unsteady barrel rolls, and often times could be found illegally batting the bludgers around with the end of her broomstick, grinning widely at Poe and Finn, her best friends and teammates. Ben knew Organa had to be seeing that particular move at least some of the time, but she never called it. She had an undeniable soft spot for Rey.

This meant that Rey's strategy worked quite well for her, most times.

That was more than could be said for Ben's current strategy, which was to sneak glances at Rey while he circled aimlessly. Phasma kept throwing him dirty looks from the goal posts, but Ben just threw them right back, mentally insisting that he needed to be watching for Rey in case her weird strategy paid off and she found the snitch first. He wasn't fooling anyone, and Artoo had stolen the microphone from BB several times to voice her opinion on the matter.

Luckily for Ben, Rey seemed to have caught a glimpse of the Snitch and she raced off after it. Her broom wasn't excellent for maneuvering, but rumor had it she'd built and bewitched it herself over the summer, so no one ever said anything. And anyway—the way she handled it made up for any flaws in construction. Ben found himself momentarily captivated.

Over in the announcer's box, BB seemed to have caught Rey's mad dash for the snitch. "There goes Rey, she seems to have—oh dear—that looks terribly unsafe—seen the snitch. Ben seems to be just….hanging around the edges of the field. Maybe he's waiting for Rey to herd it towards him?" BB was always terribly kind with her commentary.

Artoo's voice came through the microphone, muffled slightly because of the distance, "He's not letting her HERD it towards him he's just STARING AT HER instead of bloody playing the game, idiot!" BB clucked her tongue disapprovingly and held the microphone farther away from Artoo.

Ben blushed hot again as Phasma shot him another dirty look from her spot in front of the goal posts. Determined to stop letting himself be so distracted, he furrowed his brow and took off in search of the snitch. Unfortunately, his best bet at this point was probably to follow Rey, and he angled his broom towards her.

She paid him little attention as he grew closer. Other players generally cleared the way wherever he flew. Ben's flying style was very aggressive as opposed to Rey's, which could only really be described as unrefined. Even so, Rey had never let him cow her into submission before, and she didn't start now. It was only when he pulled up directly alongside her that she looked over at him, her face splitting into a wide smile.

See, now this was part of the problem. How could she smile like that, like he was the first day of vacation or a cold glass of water in the middle of summer? Of course he was so taken with her. Everyone was, honestly. Of course he should be looking at her, but why should she even be giving him the time of day?

He looked away, scanning the area in search of the snitch. A flicker of gold flashed from Phasma's robes near the goal posts and he edged his broom on, intent. Rey stayed right beside him, almost breathing down his neck. As he chased the glimmer of light around the goal posts and dodged a bludger, she swerved, coming somehow even closer to him than before. Ben chanced a glance at her, regretting it instantly.

She was looking straight at him. Her smile had morphed into a rather worrisome (at least, worrisome to him) smirk, and she leaned in, her hands clutching her broomstick near his shoulder and her lips at his ear.

"Are you gonna catch the snitch so I can give you that kiss, or did you want to keep just making eyes at me in the Great Hall instead?" she raised an eyebrow but didn't wait for his answer, opting to suddenly dash out in front of him, arm outstretched as the snitch fluttered just out of reach. Somehow, she coaxed a tiny bit of speed out of her broomstick, fingertips almost brushing against the gauzy wings before Ben came to his senses and knocked the front of his broom against the end of hers.

"It's incredibly rude, you know. The way you tease me like that to win. It's cheating!" Ben yelled as he pushed against her.

"What if I'm not teasing?" she shouted back. "What if you're just a timid git who won't take what he wants and kiss me?"

Before Ben even had time to process what she'd said, Rey, knocked off balance by Ben's blow, fell into a tight downward spiral. The snitch had tried to evade Rey by dropping through the air, but unfortunately for Ben, the two were now on the same course. Rey, realizing that fact, once again stretched out her arm.

Ben cursed internally and chanced a glance behind him at Phasma. She was busy dodging the two Hufflepuff Chasers as well as the bludgers Poe and Finn were sending her way. Satisfied that he would be able to handle the mess he'd made without her breathing down his neck, he turned back to Rey, who was so close to the snitch, so close.

Panicking, Ben dove towards her, quick and reckless, completely misjudging the force necessary to knock her out of the way. Instead of propelling himself ahead of her, he ran straight into her, arms coming up to wrap around her as they fell together. His broom was lost in the commotion, and it fell through the air limply, landing somewhere in the grass below them.

"NOW THAT'S SOME ACTION YEAH BEN GEDDIT!" Artoo yelled over the microphone, shoving BB aside as she strained to see closer.

"Goodness, Artoo!" BB said, "Professor Skywalker says you're not allowed to have the microphone, remem—"

"OH MY—" at this point Artoo devolved into a long series of vulgar exclamations.

Rey's broom was sturdy but it was definitely not sturdy enough to hold her and Ben and fly at the same time. As a consequence, they simply free-fell towards the ground. Rey screamed, wild and loud, wrapping her arms around Ben and burying her face in his robes.

The audience let out a collective gasp, and even the other players on the field slowed down to watch as the two plunged towards the ground.

Ben, who had honestly given up all hope of living a full life, turned to wrap himself around Rey as well, when all of a sudden, there was a hard jerk on Rey's broomstick. The two looked up to see Poe and Finn each holding an end of Rey's broom.

Artoo yelled more profanities, but a loud noise of complaint from BB broke through the microphone instead, "—THEY'VE BEEN MIRACULOUSLY RESCUED BY HUFFLEPUFF'S BEATERS WHAT A LUCKY TURN OF EVENTS." Artoo was red all over, jumping up and down as BB cringed next to her.

With Poe and Finn's help, the two merely tumbled gently to the ground instead of crashing headlong and spreading gore all over the grass. They rolled for a moment, Rey cocooned in Ben's arms, before coming to a stop. Rey suddenly found herself trapped underneath a very-embarrassed-and-slightly-irate Ben.

He opened his eyes to see Rey staring up at him, a mixture of residual fear and smug joy on her face. From this close, he could see every freckle on the curve of her nose, every speck of gold in her hazel eyes, and most distractingly, the soft curve of her bottom lip, stretched into a lazy smile.

He didn't think, he just lowered his head and kissed her, softly at first, his lips firming as he heard the deafening noise behind him (mostly Artoo swearing wildly as she struggled to keep the microphone away from Professor Skywalker, honestly). Ben took one of the hands he'd been using to hold himself up off Rey and touched the pink curve of her cheek as he pulled away.

Eyes wide, Rey breathed in carefully and let it out in a shaky puff. Her lips pulled back up into her customary grin and she said "Wow. I didn't think you'd actually ever get the courage to do that!" Ben flushed and looked down at her mouth again, intent on another kiss.

"But—you didn't win the Quidditch game. So technically you've cheated and taken this kiss." she said, and he pulled away and frowned.

"The game's not over yet, is it?" he said, suddenly looking around for his broom. "We've got to get back up in the air, Phasma is going to be so upset at me!"

"Yeah, she will." Rey said, struggling to pull her arms out from under him. Once free, she held up the tiny object in her palm.

It was the snitch. Ben huffed and rolled off of her to lay on his back in the damp grass. His stupid distracted self had lost them the game. Rey scrambled to her feet, holding the snitch up in the air triumphantly as the stands erupted with noise.

"BEN GOT SOME BUT REY GOT THE SNITCH—" Artoo yelled, but BB finally succeeded in taking back the microphone and brought it to her mouth calmly.

"Hufflepuff's seeker, Rey, has caught the snitch. The match is over. Hufflepuff wins!" she smiled kindly, if a bit sadly, towards the dejected Gryffindor players on the edge of the field.

Ben hung his head and headed towards his broomstick so that he could join his teammates, when General Organa's voice sounded through the stadium.

"The match does NOT go to Hufflepuff, actually. Gryffindor, with an astounding Keeper and equally astounding Chasers, wins 200 points to 190!"

Phasma fainted straight away, and Hux only just managed to keep her on her broom. Ben looked up, surprised, and took off at a run towards his team. He hadn't realized they'd been doing quite _that_ well.

Before he could get far, Rey's small, gloved hand snatched at the end of his sleeve. She pulled him back towards her and stretched up on her toes, her hands coming up to tangle in his dark curls as she kissed him soundly. Ben made a noise of surprise before bringing his hands up to grip her shoulders tight. When she pulled away finally, he blurted the first thing that came to mind:

"Technically _I_ kissed _you_ and the terms were that _you_ would kiss _me_ if I caught it, so…the only person cheating here is you." he said, stalking away as Rey's mouth dropped open before stretching into a brilliant smile again, and she turned to join her team as well.

Sounds of a mad struggle for the microphone continued to sound throughout the pitch.


End file.
